Palo Alto Networks Inc. shares rose in the extended session Tuesday after the cybersecurity company offered Wall Street another beat-and-raise quarter in a tight business software spending environment.
Palo Alto Networks
PANW,
reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $107.8 million, or 31 cents a share, versus a loss of $73.2 million, or 25 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings, which exclude stock-based compensation expenses and other items, were $1.10 a share, compared with 60 cents a share in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose to $1.72 billion from $1.39 billion in the year-ago quarter, while billings — which the company defines as “total revenue plus the change in total deferred revenue, net of acquired deferred revenue, during the period,” and is a metric used to account for subscriptions — rose 26% to $2.3 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast 93 cents a share on revenue of $1.72 billion and billings of $2.23 billion.
Shares rose more than 4% after hours, following a 1.2% decline in the regular session to close at $189.74.
Palo Alto Networks had forecast third-quarter adjusted earnings of 90 cents to 94 cents a share on revenue of $1.7 billion to $1.73 billion and billings of $2.2 billion to $2.25 billion for the third quarter.
For the fourth quarter, Palo Alto Networks forecast fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.26 to $1.30 a share on revenue of $1.94 billion to $1.97 billion and billings of $3.15 billion to $3.2 billion. For the year, the company expects $4.25 to $4.29 a share on revenue of $6.88 billion to $6.91 billion on billings of $9.18 billion to $9.23 billion.
Analysts estimate $1.20 a share on revenue of $1.95 billion and billings of $3.16 billion for the fourth quarter, and were projecting $4.02 a share on revenue of $6.88 billion and billings of $9.16 billion for the year.
For the full year, executives had previously predicted $3.97 to $4.03 a share on revenue of $6.85 billion to $6.91 billion and billings of $9.1 billion to $9.2 billion.
Palo Alto Networks shares are up 36% year to date. In comparison, the ETFMG Prime Cyber Security ETF
HACK,
is up 7%, the First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF
CIBR,
is up 8%, the S&P 500 index
SPX,
is up 8%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
is up 20%.
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